Bright side of the moon (Episode 32)
by grandvizier527
Summary: Ilana's starbecue with Jason goes awry and leads to the Titan trio going to the dark side of the moon. Takes place right after Edward's story.
1. Ilana's next date

Episode 32: Bright side of the Moon

K+

Ilana looked outside her bedroom window as the sun began to set. The house actually faced south, but Ilana liked that because it let her contrast the orange and pink of the setting sun in the west with the rising moon in the east. Stars began to shine faintly as the sun disappeared at last, and Ilana began to long for home, imagining that it was just within her reach beyond the stars. It wasn't, of course, but she still liked to pretend. She had shifted her focus to the moon when a pair of fingers snapped. She jumped and realized it was only Lance. "Thanks. Really zoned out there!" Ilana said with embarrassment.

"It's all right. Just had to get you ready. Jason will be here soon, so you can go on that...whatever."

"Starbecue. He and some friends and his astronomy teacher go out to the countryside and observe the stars. Why didn't you want to come again?"

"I don't know any of his group. And neither do you."

"I can make new friends," Ilana countered. "And wouldn't you want to go, just to keep me safe?"

"You don't need me everywhere," Lance pointed out, sitting on Ilana's bed as she still stared out the window. "This could be a great time to prove yourself...wait, that came out wrong." Ilana rolled her eyes, used to such things from her guardian.

"...Just curious," Ilana began. "What do you think of the moon?" Lance looked out the window to watch it with her.

"It's tiny. And lifeless. Kinda...weak," Lance admitted.

"I don't know. I like it. So peaceful and clear, and it doesn't take up the whole sky like the moons and home." The doorbell rang, and the two left Ilana's room.

"Be safe. Watch the skies, and don't drop your guard," Lance warned her as Ilana approached the front door. He left before Ilana opened it, and Octus appeared behind Ilana.

"Do I really have to 'give you up' and say to Jason 'I want her back by 10:30? I can't see the purpose of this ritual," Octus remarked.

"This is how Earth fathers let their daughters date," Ilana explained.

"But you specified that this was not a date-"

"-You know what I mean! I can't keep Jason waiting!" Ilana said as she opened the door for Jason. He stood in the doorway, not sure what to make of the way Ilana and her "Dad" were waiting for him.

"Uh...hi, Ilana! And...Mr. Lunis, sir..." Jason stammered. Ilana gave Octus a nudge.

"I want her back by 10:30," Octus said, gently placing his hands on Ilana's shoulders to push her to Jason. Ilana had to walk forward so that she didn't trip. Octus closed the door, and Jason and Ilana walked to the car. Ilana frowned when Octus closed the door.

"Something wrong?" Jason asked as they got into his car.

"No, nothing," Ilana replied.

Back inside the house, Lance asked Octus: "Didn't she say to leave the door open and watch them until they left?" Octus immediately headed to the door and opened it as Jason and Ilana buckled up.

"Uhh, why is your Dad staring me down like that?" Jason asked Ilana. Ilana smacked her hand to her forehead in a gesture she had been told by Octus was known as the "face-palm".

"Just drive..."


	2. Prisoner on the moon

Somewhere on the dark side of the moon, 2 Mutradis ship were docking onto a landing platform after passing through a strange blue forcefield. As the first ship came to rest, the landing platform lowered underground until it disappeared from the surface. A panel closed above it, locking out the vacuum of space. The second ship, much larger than the first, landed on another platform and was likewise lowered underground beneath the surface of the moon.

"Okay, the airlock's secure! Can we get out now?!" demanded a burly and gray Mutradi foot-soldier to his Galalunan superior.

"No, you can't!" replied a fat redhead Galalunan from his shackles.

"Silence, prisoner! I didn't ask you, anyway!"

"Arthur is correct. You'll have to wait a few minutes for the oxygen to be applied to the room. Wouldn't want anyone suffocating…well, you wouldn't, anyway," said an elderly Galalunan man. He had his graying hair in a distinct style that caused tufts of it to stick out the sides of his head like two horns. He also had a large mole on his cheek, not that anyone commented about that. He had been allied with Modula since the beginning, and he had personally been informed by the General that his placement here was a promotion, and that any Mutradi harming him would be executed.

After waiting a few minutes, the crew of the Mutradi spaceship spilled out and explored the moonbase. Most were left to their own devices so that they could find a job that could suit them, save for Arthur and the old Galalunan with the horn-hair, who held on the chain connecting Arthur's shackles. A green Mutradi that was the same species as Duraak approached the two.

"Dr. Marius Cinna, I presume?" he asked.

"Correct. This loyalist prisoner will be of some use to us here. That is why I brought him along. I will see to it that he causes no harm to the operations here. That would lead to his death," Marius glanced at Arthur when saying this.

"Look…Headmaster…"

"This isn't the Academy. You address me as Doctor," Marius said as he tugged on Arthur's chains. The Mutradi looked at Arthur with a frown.

"Your prisoner…he is not properly secured. Follow me so that we may fix this problem," the Mutradi scientist said. Marius followed, taking Arthur with him. The Galalunans were led into a laboratory where the Mutradi scientist retrieved from a glass box what looked like a baby version of Xeexi. He then whispered to it a little, and the thing immediately jumped from its hand and wrapped its tentacles around Arthur's waist in a tight grip.

"Should he try to escape, the Cephalovican will stop him," the scientist explained. Marius nodded in gratitude.

"I thought that the handcuffs were enough," Arthur pleaded to no avail. Marius ignored him and followed the Mutradi scientist to another room which contained numerous Mutradi seated and at work on computers.

"Here is where you are needed, Doctor," the scientist said. "And you are sure the prisoner will be of use to you?"

"Yes, he will. I'm sure of it," Marius reassured him.

"What exactly will I be doing here?" Arthur asked. Marius ignored him and sat down at an empty computer. He then made some noises to a Mutradi that looked a lot like the one that infected Ilana once in what was apparently its language.

"Have we located the princess' coordinates?"

"Affirmative. Sending it to you now," the Mutradi known as a Mucolox said. Marius' computer screen then showed a globe with a dot on Sherman, Illinois.

"Any further specifics?" Marius asked.

"Negative. We cannot locate the specifics from here. Too remote." Marius turned his attention back to Arthur.

"What am I supposed to do, then?" Arthur asked.

"You'll find out when Titan comes knocking," Marius replied as he typed away. Arthur was about to sit and mope when he heard a loud rumbling sound that made him jump.

"What was that!?" The Mutradi all chuckled.

"Nothing, really. Merely a monumental feat of science being achieved," Marius told him, showing him the screen.

On the screen, a massive cannon was seen suddenly emerging from the lunar surface, which aimed at Earth and then fired something with a bang. It looked like a giant moon rock.

"So you're going to throw meteors at Titan?" Arthur asked. "How do you know that that'll even work? Is that what you set this all up for?"

"It's far worse than that; we've found a way to launch Mutradi at Titan without using the Rift Gate," Marius replied with a grin. Arthur wasn't sure what to make of this, but judging from the size and speed of that meteorite, things didn't look good.


	3. The boys

As Jason drove out into the countryside of Sherman, Ilana noticed that the stars outside twinkled a little brighter. Upon pointing this out, Jason explained that the lights of the city usually drowned them out since they were so much brighter. He went on to explain why they shone, but Ilana had stopped listening by then. She was more interested in the beauty of the night sky than the science behind it. Jason quickly got the message and said no more until they stopped the car on the top of a hill. The dirt path they had taken was the only way to get here by car.

"You're gonna love the rest of my class!" Jason promised Ilana when they joined the small group of people already there; 4 kids and one adult man. Most of the faces were unfamiliar to her except one.

"Oh, hi Maribel!" Ilana cried, giving her friend a hug. "Haven't seen much of you!"

"Hi!" Maribel replied with an equally friendly greeting. "I didn't think you were interested in this stuff. How did you get her to join us?" she asked Jason.

"Oh, she was kicking and screaming, but I just…charmed her here!" Jason joked, and the three laughed. The 3 teenage boys behind Maribel fidgeted nervously when they saw Ilana while the adult man was grilling burgers and some vegetables.

"Hey guys, I brought my girlfriend! Don't you wanna meet her?" Jason asked the boys. Ilana could tell he was having fun with this. She saw one of them suddenly go from shy to relaxed as he approached. This first boy had black hair like Lance's, but it was in a style more conventional to Earth teenagers and much shorter. He had on khaki pants, glasses, and a red t-shirt that had some word scrawled on it Ilana recalled seeing before. The boy took Ilana's hand and shook it almost reluctantly.

"Mark. Nice to meet you. And yes, the t-shirt says Nintendo," Mark said with embarrassment. He then turned to the others and declared, "Ok. I shook the girl's hand. Now you do it. She's harmless." Ilana giggled, and she could see that when she did Mark's frown turned to a smile briefly.

"Like humor, huh? I have more of that stored in my cerebral cortex," Mark said nonchalantly.

"Fail, Mark! She doesn't know what that is!" a boy with curly, blonde hair and sideburns said as he gave Ilana a handshake. He wore jeans and a green t-shirt that said "Whatever Tech".

"Name's Greg, but I'd prefer Gregory," he said with more confidence and friendliness than Mark. "Lots of cool people named Gregory."

"One pope who made a calendar doesn't make it a cool name!" said the last boy, a kid with buzz-cut and no eyebrows. He had on shorts and a gray long-sleeved shirt.

"I'm Devon. The lack of eyebrows and the long-sleeved shirt are the result of some mistakes in chemistry," he explained.

"Well, it's nice to meet you all! I'm Ilana." Gregory whistled in surprise, Mark rubbed his glasses nervously, and Devon grinned. "What?" Ilana asked.

"We've never heard of an 'Ilana' before! Who is this girl, a foreign exchange student?" Mark asked Jason.

"No, then her English wouldn't be so…eloquent. Can't you tell she's a second generation immigrant?" Gregory reprimanded.

"Seriously, Jason, thanks for bringing us a girl!" Devon cried with excitement. Jason scowled at his friends.

"Knock it off, guys! Are girls just completely new things to you?" he asked. They all went silent. Ilana blushed, realizing that all these boys seemed to have this crush on her.

"If you're all done bothering Jason and his girlfriend, it's time to eat!" the adult said. The boys besides Jason got out leather and plastic folding chairs, but of course there they hadn't expected Ilana. Mark, Gregory and Devon were all willing to give up their seats, but since they all offered at once, Ilana took in stride and just  
lay across all three like a couch while the three boys sat on the ground.

"I'm Kevin Murphy, but just call me Mr. Murphy, seeing as I'm the teacher," said the adult man to Ilana. He looked to be not much younger than the kids, and had a full beard and dark blonde hair. "You're the first outside of my class to join us, Ilana," he said as the group began to eat their burgers. The other kids were talking amongst themselves, talking about constellations they thought they saw. There were also some grilled peppers, leeks and onions, which Ilana didn't eat very often but found delicious.

"Glad to be here! Except I don't know much about stars. Jason invited me here as a sort of date," she said as she straightened up to sit on just one chair. Lying on three was getting uncomfortable.

"That's all right. I'm sure anybody here could teach you, especially the boys. I've never see them get this excited in class, let me tell you!"

After the food was finished, the group set up their telescopes and began to stargaze. Ilana was left alone with Jason, and the two decided to just lie in the grass together and look at the stars in the opposite direction.

"Okay, see, that one there is Orion, and those are the Gemini. See the twins?" Jason asked Ilana.

"I still can't see them. Which star am I looking at?" she asked.

"For which one, Orion, or Gemini?" Jason asked as he wrapped his left hand around her shoulders and raised his right hand to point at whatever stars were necessary to point out. Ilana shrugged. Jason patiently showed her everything, even though it took her a few times to see where everything was. Then he quizzed her, and after a while she had memorized the locations of a few constellations.

"Now look straight up. See that particularly bright star? That's Polaris. It's easy to remember since it never moves as the earth rotates each night. Well, none of them move, actually, but it looks like they do." Ilana looked up at it with wonder. It wasn't particularly bright or special, but it at least she'd never lose its place.

"I wish I was like that star," she said softly. "Then I would never have had to leave home."

"Oh, you mean your old home? But then you wouldn't have met me!" Jason reminded her. Ilana nodded and suppressed a lump in her throat as she thought of her father and Galaluna.

"If I were on another planet, would I see that?" she asked.

"Depends. What planet would you be on?" Jason asked, not knowing where she was going with this.

"One far away."

"Uh…be more specific." Ilana thought for a moment at that request. Should she be? Should she tell him everything? She opened her mouth to try and say something, but then Mark's face loomed over them.

"Ok, lovey-dovey time is over! We've just seen something crazy that you BOTH need to see! Cuz' you'll probably never see it again!" They stood up and looked at the moon as Mark had ordered. It was full tonight, and there seemed to be a gray dot on it at that began to grow slightly bigger.

"It's strange," Mr. Murphy attempted to explain. "From the telescope, it looks like there's something headed straight for us! But that can't be right. And the odds would be—very slim!"

The object grew bigger until it hid the moon, stunning everyone to silence. Before they could think the object—definitely a meteorite, they could tell—flew just a few hundred feet above their heads and crashed into a field on the other side of the road. The group quickly rushed to the crater.

"Get out the cameras and get ready to upload!" Gregory cried.

"This thing is huge! And it definitely came from the moon, but how? How does a moon chunk just land on Earth like this?" Maribel wondered. Ilana, who was staying close to Jason, whispered to him.

"We need to go," she told him, tugging on his arm, but he didn't budge.

"Are you kidding? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" Jason cried. When he finished speaking, the pit made from the crater began to rumble, and in seconds a giant green hand with a wing attached was seen.

"What is that?!" Devon cried.

"TAKE A PICTURE AND GET OUT OF HERE!" Mark cried, immediately turning to run while pointing his camera behind him in hopes that he could get a good shot of whatever that was. But as the astronomy class plus Ilana drove away, Ilana was thinking not "What?" but "How?"


	4. Solo battle

All the cars had taken different routes to flee when they got on the road, but the Mutradi followed Jason's car nevertheless.

"Why is it following us? Did we look at the moon wrong or something?" Jason asked aloud. Ilana glanced in the rearview mirror and saw the monster flying after them. It was a essentially a giant green pterosaur like the kind Ilana had heard were quite common on Earth millions of years ago, except that it had a forked tongue, compound eyes like an insect, and its limbs extended beyond its wings. This didn't look like something she could take on by herself. But Lance and Octus probably wouldn't be able to show up for another half-hour if she stood her ground here. After Jason's car got a few miles away from the Mutradi, Ilana said: "Jason, stop the car and let me out. It's me that thing's after."

"Why would it be after you? How would it know how you were?"

"I…I'm not sure. Just trust me, ok?"

"You WANT me to feed you to some dino-monster? I'm not letting you die!" Jason protested as he pressed down on the gas harder.

"But Jason, I…"

"But what?" Ilana thought of an excuse to use. Was she really going to say it? Yes, she was, because she had to.

"…I have to go to the bathroom," she said plainly.

"What, you didn't already go when that monster showed up?" Jason replied, trying to bring a little humor into the terrifying situation. Ilana sighed, figuring that he wouldn't fall for this. She took a deep breath and tried again.

"Jason, listen: If you love me and trust me as your girlfriend," she said, making sure to use "love" and "girlfriend" because she knew it would appeal to him, "Then you'll stop the car and let me out. I know what to do to get rid of the monster. I've, uh, done the research." Jason didn't respond for a few seconds. Then, Ilana watched as the speedometer slowed down until Jason stopped the car.

"I trust you. I just don't want you to get hurt," he said. Ilana smiled.

"You sound just like Lance," she told him as she got out. Jason got out of the car, too and went around to her side.

"I hope whatever you have in mind works," Jason said, a lump forming in his throat. Ilana wanted to clarify what she was going to do to soothe him, but she knew it was best to stay silent. She didn't pull away when he kissed her passionately; she knew that he thought it was the last time he would ever see her. He drove away and left on the side of the road. Finally, Ilana, thought, she was alone! She called Octus using her armor.

"Octus!"

"Here I am."

"There's a Mutradi after me, can you get over to where I am?"

"Your coordinates are identifiable, but I have detected no Rift Gate openings. How can you be sure that there's-? Ah, yes, I'm picking up the energy signature of the Mutradi."

"It came from a meteorite from the moon, not the Rift Gate! I don't know how!"

"That is highly implausible, but I'll be on my way with Lance. Stay hidden and do not engage the monster." Then Octus "hung up" on her. With some reluctance, Ilana did as she was told and stayed on the side of the road, waiting. But she already knew that from the way the Mutradi had followed Jason's car that she would have to fight. She was about to turn on her armor when another car showed up. It was Mark, who was carrying some sort of telescope that seemed to have a camera lens built-in.

"What are you doing here?" Ilana asked, a little irritated that Mark was here right before the monster showed up.

"I was gonna ask you the same thing. Did Jason try to sacrifice you to the monster? He'd do something like that. I wouldn't," Mark added this last bit as he pointed his telescope-camera device up to the stars. "I'm here to take a few pics of the monster with this mini-Hubble—designed it myself-and then run away like a coward," he added jokingly, glancing at Ilana to see if it would make her laugh. It didn't.

"Listen, I get that this thing is probably really fascinating to you, but you shouldn't be here," Ilana protested, not wishing to explain why.

"You shouldn't be, either, but I'm not complaining!" Mark grinned, unsure of whether to watch the skies or the girl near him. Ilana was about to see if she could sneak off somewhere when Gregory and Devon's cars showed up as well.

"Gotten over the initial shock, huh?" Gregory asked Mark.

"Yeah, but Jason didn't. He left Ilana here as a sacrifice!" Mark told them. Gregory and Devon's eyes lit up.

"Fortune really reveals herself in weird ways, doesn't it?" Gregory remarked to Devon. Ilana groaned as Devon got out a regular camera and Gregory withdrew a remote-control helicopter with a camera lens on it.

"Guys, this isn't a photo op! The monster is after me! It followed Jason's car the whole time we were running away!" The boys all turned to her in response, thinking that they could avoid watching the skies for a moment.

"Ridiculous! The monster probably forgot about us after we left, and now it's going to wander about and look for food. What's it look like, anyway?" Mark asked.

"Jason was a coward. Why did you date him in the first place? Like I said, he was a nobody until I came along," Gregory told Ilana.

"Uh…wanna go out with me sometime?" Devon asked. "I know I don't look like much, but…" Ilana turned and ran from the boys, who were confused and disappointed when she did so. They thought that maybe they were freaking her out by all talking to her at once, but when they felt themselves being lifted into the air and screeched at they figured out the real reason. They all screamed in unison.

"I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!" Gregory cried.

"I'm sorry, Ilana! I just thought you were hot!" Mark cried.

"NO! I DIDN'T COME THIS FAR OUT OF JAIL TO BE A DINOSAUR'S LUNCH!" Devon exclaimed. They were all too distracted by their sudden predicament to see Ilana turn on her armor and fly at the monster, which held onto its captives as it met her in the air in hopes that they would be useful later.

Ilana's first thought was freeing the boys before she could attack aggressively. She tried firing a laser at the pterosaur to see if it would drop them, but while the blast seemed to hurt it didn't hurt enough. The pterosaur slashed at Ilana with its claws, knocking her back in the air a bit so that when it slammed into her with its wing she found herself falling. Ilana quickly recovered and flew back up, using her shield to block the Mutradi's next attack. While she was shielding herself Ilana charged up a powerful white laser from her chest and shot it at the monster. The blast hit it in the eye, causing it to drop the boys. Ilana immediately hovered in to catch all three of them and placed them on the ground gently.

"Who…where did you come from?" Devon asked.

"My dream came true!" Gregory replied. "Well, the first part, anyway. I don't think you'd like the second part," he said to Ilana.

"Thank you, super awesome robot girl! You saved our lives! Did you see if Ilana was ok?" Mark asked.

"She's fine," Ilana reassured them, and flew off. The boys stood up and headed back to their cars.

"I'm thinking about heading home," Mark told his friends. "Maybe it was kinda stupid how we came back and nearly got ourselves killed."

"Yeah," Gregory agreed.

"Should've brought something better suited to fighting," Devon added. They were silent until they got back to their cars, upon which Mark asked:

"So, you guys think that golden robot girl was hot? I…kinda did."

"Oh, totally. She was even hotter in my dream, though," Gregory remarked.

"Definitely. I've never seen a robot girl that hot! The titanium-gold alloy she had, the blue flame jets, the powerful lasers, the durable shields…just, wow," Devon declared, suddenly. The boys then all went back home, having enough for one day.

Ilana, meanwhile, fired a blue laser straight into the pterosaur, damaging its wing. The monster sreeched and kicked her with its claw, but she strafed with her jets to dodge the attack. She was caught off guard from the next attack, however, and was hit by another kick. She fell backwards again, and the pterosaur hit her with its claw again to send her plummeting down to earth. The creature landed, thinking that Ilana would be easy to finish off now.

Ilana was beginning to doubt her own abilities as the pterosaur placed a foot on top of her to prevent her from struggling. She briefly considered just turning off her armor to try and escape and join up with Lance and Octus. But then she remembered what Lance said:

_You don't need me with you everywhere. This could a chance to prove yourself._

As the Mutradi raised its head above her, Ilana broke free of the monster's grip and dove straight into the creature's face, shooting another laser at point-blank range. The creature staggered, its throat damaged by the attack. It bled out dark green blood for a few seconds before collapsing backwards. Ilana turned off her armor, having finally defeated the creature.

She was staring at it blankly when Lance and Octus finally showed up. Octus turned on his "Mr. Lunis" hologram just in case. Lance turned off his armor and jaw dropped when he turned to see Ilana unharmed and smiling.

"You guys were a little slow," she laughed. "But don't worry, I took care of it!"

"How did you fight that thing all by yourself? It's Titan-sized!" Lance exclaimed.

"Well, I just remember what you told me, and wanted to prove that you were right when you said you didn't need to be with me all the time."

"Ilana, I didn't mean that! I—I'm sorry I let this happen to you. If I had just been here…"

"The situation has passed. Ilana is perfectly capable of fighting Mutradi by herself, it seems. But that does not negate our purpose," Octus told him. Turning to Ilana, he asked, "I am intrigued by the origins of this monster. You say it came from the moon in a meteorite. That is highly implausible."

"But it happened! You believe me, right?" Ilana asked the robot.

"I do, but I'm also willing to consider other possibilities. Perhaps these 'meteorites' are some new form in which Mutradi are packaged, possibly to protect them while the enter Earth's atmosphere, or perhaps to disguise their energy signatures so that I can't detect them. Except…if a meteorite or other object entered the Rift Gate, I'd know about that, too."

"I think I have a theory," said a voice. It was Mr. Murphy. Lance looked nervous, but judging from Mr. Murphy's expression (and Octus scanned him to check) he hadn't seen anything related to them and their armor.

"There you are! I was a little worried about you and Maribel!" Ilana said.

"She's fine. I had to make sure all of you kids were all right; I'm so, so sorry for leaving you all. It's good that Titan's robot friends were around to kill the monster. Listen, don't tell the school that I wasn't there, ok?"

"It's fine, we won't say anything!" Ilana reassured him. "Now tell us about what you think this thing is from."

"Ok," Mr. Murphy began. "Well, are you aware about the dark side of the moon? It's the side of the moon that isn't seen from Earth—the moon doesn't rotate on an axis like the Earth does, you see. It's not that much different from the side of the moon we see, but while spacecraft are on the far side of the moon they can't pick up radio signals from anything on the near side of the moon—the side we see at night. And we from our side can't pick up any of the dark side's communications. Perhaps some sort of activity is going on there that we don't know about that's making the monsters seem to appear from the moon."

"But that is still very implausible," Octus pointed out. "The moon cannot sustain life, and surely Earth's, I mean NASA's, probes would be able to see what was going on."

"Maybe it's all taking place underground. I'm not entirely sure about all this, but I figure that if something's wrong with the moon, you'd want to look on its dark side," Mr. Murphy said. He then got in his car and left. Ilana noticed him give her a quick wink from his rearview mirror. Did he know, she thought.

"I don't trust him," Lance declared. "Why would he show up all of a sudden after leaving Ilana and tell us some suspiciously important information?"

"I think we can trust him," Ilana said. "And maybe the others in Jason's astronomy class, too." Lance sighed, but Octus seemed more thankful of Dr. Murphy's information.

"I appreciate what he said, regardless. The moon of Earth is essentially a glorified asteroid, not a smaller planet like the moons of Galaluna. It is strange how there are so many mysteries even within one's planet's own orbit."

"Whatever. Can we just go home and get some rest? We're gonna need it to fight off more Mutradi tomorrow. They'll be showing up much more frequently now," Lance reminded them. Suddenly, a low gurgle was heard. Lance turned to Ilana. "How well did you kill that thing?"

"What do you mean, 'how well'? I'm not a soldier, so how am I supposed to tell?" she said defensively. Before any of them could armor up the pterosaur lunged at the group and rammed into all of three of them with surprising speed. Lance was sent sprawling a few yards away, Octus got a gash in his core, and Ilana was grabbed by the Mutradi's talons. She tried turning on her armor, but the Mutradi had made sure to grip her arms tightly in its talons.

"What…no…this isn't fair…" Lance said as he tried to stand to his feet, only to be grabbed by the hand of the Mutradi. Octus was quickly taken as well. The pterosaur roared in their faces and opened its mouth before Ilana.

Modula telepathically congratulated the Mutradi using his hat. _Well done. If only I could have the privilege of being there in person. I just knew that as soon as I had the three of them off guard, I—_

But then the Mutradi stopped when a shot rang out. It slumped down to the ground and let go of the trio, finally dead. A thick bullet had been lodged into its neck, killing it instantly. The group turned to where the bullet had been fired to find Devon gripping a shotgun. He had shown up just moments before.

"Devon? You saved our lives!" Ilana exclaimed. Devon shuffled his feet.

"Eh, you know…had to go home and get my shotgun and make sure you were okay. I live close by here," Devon replied sheepishly.

"Thank you for your assistance; Ilana is correct in stating that you saved our lives. Would you be so kind as to escort us home?" Octus asked.

"Sure!" Devon replied heartily, figuring that this was his chance to impress Ilana's dad, so he let Ilana and what he thought was her father in the car. Lance stayed outside because he wanted to talk to Devon; he was impressed by how had saved them, too.

"Where did you get that gun?" he asked. Devon seemed to grow nervous when he asked that question.

"Eh, it's not exactly legal. I mean, it's my Dad's, and he lets me use it…for hunting and stuff," Devon explained. "He has a conceal carry permit, so he buys guns and stuff sometimes."

"That weapon's too big to conceal!" Lance pointed out.

"…Right," Devon nodded. "Do you get what I mean?" Lance nodded and gave a salute.

"As much as I hate to admit it, that was good shooting," he said. "But you won't need to protect my sister again."

"Got it," Devon said with a gulp as they got in his car.

**Sorry this chapter was a tad long. And yes, the scene with Devon shooting the pterosaur had a point. It's called character development...of a sort. Sorry if you don't like the boys, I just figured that at some point I'm going to need to start adding in some new characters (technically they'd be called OCs) and I figured I can fit these guys into some later episodes. But this is about as far as I plan on using them for this story.**

**jerry553482, I await your review!**


	5. Secrets left in plain sight

Back at the moon base, Arthur stifled a chuckle as he listened to an angry transmission from Modula to Marius Cinna. Unfortunately for the ex-headmaster, Modula's voice was loud enough for all the Mutradi in the room to hear it.

"_I was SO close to killing Titan…ONLY FOR MY OPPORTUNITY TO BE SNATCHED AWAY FROM ME BY SOME EARTH PEASANT WITH A PRIMITIVE WEAPON FROM THE UNREFINED ERA!"_

_"_General, calm yourself. Don't blame me for this! I wasn't the one controlling the monster when it landed!" Marius said desperately. The Mutradi laughed at him for being so obedient to a man that wasn't even there.

_"I know. I just…needed to get my anger out, and the servants aren't good enough for that. I want you to send out a mega-beast every few hours or so, and keep our hostage secure."_

"Understood, General. Also, I feel that I must update you on our progress on Earth's moon," Marius went on. The Mutradi around him all went back to their work, realizing that the funny moment was over.

"_Yes, go on about that. I need some good news,"_ Modula sighed.

"The Mutradi hyper-breeding experiments are going perfectly, and for…reference purposes we've set up the archives and downloaded all the files from Galaluna regarding information about the war, as you requested," Marius went on.

"Archives?" Arthur asked aloud. Marius made a motion for him to be quiet.

"_Good. I enjoy making traps, don't you, Marius?"_

"Yes," Marius Cinna replied, not really knowing how to properly respond to Modula's unusual question. "Over and out." And the transmission ended. Marius Cinna turned back to Arthur and announced the Mutradi:

"Keep an eye on this one. Make sure he does as we need him to," Marius Cinna told them. The Mutradi all nodded and went back to work. Arthur wasn't quite sure what to make of all this. The Mutradi were being told to keep an eye on him, but they weren't actually doing it. He still wasn't quite sure why they had sent him. Something about being a hostage, but there had to be more to it.

_Whatever the reason,_ Arthur thought, _I've got to get to those archives. Maybe there's something useful in there. And then send a message to Lance or Ilana if I find something useful. But how would he get it? And how can I get out of here and find those archives?_

"Uh, I have to go to the bathroom?" he announced to the Mutradi. No one paid any attention. That excuse just didn't work anymore. Arthur glanced down at the baby Cephalovican that was still wrapped around his waist. It hadn't moved or spoken at all since it had been attached to Arthur. He tried to see if he could pull it off, but the thing somehow wouldn't budge from its spot. "Any ideas?" he asked it, not expecting it to answer.

"I am on your side, friend!" The Cephalovican whispered in a high voice. It then began to screech with an eardrum-shattering cry.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Its scream resonating all around the control room, and the Mutradi groaned at the sound.

"Get out of here and head back to the hyperbreeding lab! The one where that thing came from! Give it something to eat or it won't shut up!" Marius Cinna ordered Arthur over the noise. After releasing him from his cuffs Marius shoved Arthur out the door. The Cephalovican continued to scream and stayed wrapped around Arthur's waist until he turned a corner in the hallway.

"Thanks! Now where are the archives?" Arthur asked. The Cephalovican slithered up to Arthur's shoulder.

"How should I know? I'm a baby!" It said. And so Arthur began his search for the archives. Most of the time the hallways were empty, but occasionally a Mutradi or Galalunan saw him. If they seemed to linger too long or wonder why Arthur was wandering around, the Cephalovican would just give a wail and they'd leave.

During his search Arthur passed by a door labelled "Armory" written in Galalunan as well as several Mutradi languages.

"That's not the archives! Keep moving!" The Cephalovican advised. Arthur moved on. After checking the last corridor of the moon base, he finally found the archives room, labelled in numerous languages like the armory had been. He opened the door to find a tall and long room full of Galaluna-model computers. Each one had a label above it indicating that inside was a database for a specific topic, written in various languages. Even the keyboards were multilingual, having several different letters all crammed into one key. Since the archives were in a Mutradi moon base, however, all the topics were simply related to the war and various aspects of Mutrad, Earth, and Galaluna. Arthur went to the computer labelled "Royalist Resistance" and typed in "King". He had been captured very early in the war and had no idea about the status of the King. He knew he had been captured and later rescued, but during his captivity he had heard little about the progress of the Royalist Resistance, as they were being called by those who participated in the coup.

Several documents appeared, all of them written by what were apparently Intel officials that worked for Modula or Mutradi spies. The first result had the intriguing title of "A prediction of the status of the King". He clicked on it, but the text of the document was written in some Mutradi language.

"What's that all say?" Arthur asked the Cephalovican.

"I don't know! It's written in Mucoloid!" it replied. Arthur noticed an icon on the screen labelled "Click for physical copy". Why this was written in Galalunan while other stuff was in Mutradi confused him. Why couldn't everything all just be in one language in a place as important as the archives? He clicked on the icon and heard a wooshing sound. He looked around the room to find a small chute in the wall. Sticking out of the chute was a folder with his document.

"Why do you want that if you can't read it?" the Cephalovican asked.

"It might be important. Maybe somebody around here could tell me," Arthur suggested. He continued searching the databases, wondering why no one else had checked this room for him. Arthur found 3 more documents that interested him: "Evaluation of Modula's reign", "Potential of Galaluna" and "Review of Earth-visiting Mutradi". The first document was dated a week before the coup, "Potential of Galaluna" was dated a month after the war had begun, and "Review of Earth-visiting Mutradi" was dated for yesterday. Arthur got physical copies of all of these documents and combined them all into one folder.

"Have everything you need?" the Cephalovican asked. Arthur shook his head.

"I still need to send out a message somehow. Maybe Lance or Ilana know what this stuff means. We can get an idea of what Modula's trying to do." The baby Cephalovican glanced at Arthur and then began to click around. Arthur watched as the Mutradi navigated to a blank screen.

"Type out your message," The Mutradi said. Arthur was amazed at the baby's computer skills.

"How did you do this? How did you know what to do?" Arthur asked. It said nothing. Arthur typed out his message. When he was done, the Mutradi typed in a few numbers. Arthur figured they were the coordinates of Earth or something.

"The message is sent out as a radio signal. Even the most primitive Earth computers should be able to decode the signal and reveal your message," the Cephalovican explained. "I wasn't able to attach copies of the documents you read, though. The machine wouldn't allow it."

"That's all right," Arthur replied. "That's why I got physical copies. Thanks for helping me with all this! Why did you do it, anyway? I mean, was it really bad there in that hyper-breeding lab?"

"No."

"Then why are you helping me, then?" Arthur asked again. Suddenly, the door to the archives room swung open, and various gray-brown Mutradi pointed guns at Arthur, who threw up his hands up in surrender.

"You're in idiot," the Cephalovican snickered. "What a foolish human you are, believing I was some sort of infant!" the "baby Cephalovican" transformed into an adult-sized blue chameleon-like Mutradi, much like the one that had attacked the Scary Mary party. Its voice changed when the transformation finished, becoming much deeper. It then grabbed Arthur and shoved him forward into the hands of the rest of the Mutradi. Marius Cinna entered the archives room next, taking the documents and handing them back to Arthur.

"You can keep these. They're a fundamental part of the hostage plan," he told him.

"That's what I was brought here for, right? Nothing else?" Arthur asked.

"Well, I suppose we could consider you a bargaining chip as well," Marius remarked. "I'm sure Lance wouldn't want his only friend from the Academy to die. But will he choose you, or vital information?"

"Why can't he just pick both?" Arthur got no answer as he was escorted to a detention room.


	6. Guys and Girls

The day after the first Mutradi was launched from the moon, Lance and Ilana went to school as usual. During his lunch period Jason went outside and watched Ilana play soccer during PE. He had tried to come alone, but Mark and Gregory had followed him.

"That one with the legs is great!" Mark exclaimed as the unnamed girl scored a goal against Ilana. "All her athleticism does absolutely nothing to hinder her stunning body!"

"She wouldn't go out with you! She's probably not into…people like you," Gregory replied.

"What's that supposed to mean, huh? What sort of euphemism is that for?" Mark complained. "Need I remind you who got shot down by Amber? Was it me? No, it was YOU!"

"Will you perverts both shut up? I don't want you being like that when I go talk to Ilana!" Jason said to both of them.

"Oh, yeah, forgot about her! I can't believe she plays soccer! I didn't know Americans played that sport!" Gregory exclaimed. Mark snorted.

"Shows what you know. We Americans are like, the only ones who aren't on that bandwagon! I'd like to see you go to that university in Delhi that offered you a scholarship with that kind of mindset!"

"I wasn't going there! Besides, they play cricket in India!" Gregory protested. Jason ignored them and waited for Ilana. She saw him and approached as he had hoped.

"What is it? And why did you bring Mark and Gregory?" she asked.

"I'm sorry if our date didn't go as planned," he told her apologetically. He then leaned close and added in a low voice, "And I'm sorry if _they _made things uncomfortable for you."

"It's fine. In case you haven't noticed, our dates don't seem to go as planned."

"Yeah. Also…I can't believe I left you out there. Devon told me how he saved your life. I…can't believe I almost lost you," he said, giving her a hug. She hugged him back. This did not go unnoticed by Mark and Gregory.

"I told you to trust me, don't blame yourself. And look, I'm fine!" Ilana reassured him as she let go. "It's just that there are things I can't tell you, and it's the reason those monsters are here and after me."

"But why? You make Titan and his robot friends have to do so much work! Don't you think you should tell me? I thought relationships were all about trust and stuff," Jason said.

"I wish I could, but I can't. You wouldn't like me anymore if I told you," Ilana said, leaving to go eat lunch. Jason let her leave and rejoined Mark and Gregory.

"Should've let that hug go on longer," Mark told him.

"Or maybe, I don't know, kissed her?" Gregory suggested.

"Shut up, both of you! If you're both like Ilana so much, why don't you just get girlfriends?!" Jason exclaimed. He then looked at their stunned reactions.

"Sorry," they both said. The three then went back inside the school. Jason was about to leave them when Gregory spoke to Mark again:

"You think Ilana has that robot girl on speed-dial?"

"You bet! Though I have no idea why that meant she had to disappear!" Mark added.

"Yeah, I know! Devon says he saw her. Of course, he lies, you know. Like how he got that tattoo."

"Which one? The one with the shark on his left forearm?"

"No, the abstract pattern between his shoulder blades! He got that one purpose, I know it!" Jason left at this point, realizing the conversation wasn't useful anymore. But what they said about Ilana and the robot girl being around each other made him start thinking. When he got back to his locker, it hit him, and his eyes widened.

He knew.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, Devon ditched class and met up with Kristen in the parking lot behind the school. She was with Lance, and the two of them were making out.

"She loses her flavor after a while," Devon cautioned Lance. The couple stopped and stared, and Lance stared at him angrily.

"You again? Leave. NOW. Just because you saved my sister doesn't mean we're on good terms. That's MY job," Lance said sternly. Kristen stopped him by placing a hand on his chest.

"Actually, you're gonna have to leave for a little bit. He called me last night and said he wanted to talk. Guess it slipped my mind," she explained. Lance angrily crossed his arms in an attempt to vent his irritation.

"Fine, I'll go. I have class anyway." He then left the area. Devon asked her when he was gone:

"What does he mean, his 'job'?"

"I don't know. He doesn't talk about it much, though, so it's okay."

"Why do you like him, anyway? He's too overprotective. I doubt he's even met a girl who could fight."

"Aside from me, you mean?"

"Yeah. Nearly shot myself in the foot with that one."

"You wouldn't be able to. I like him because he's neutral and middle class. We're very complementary, too. It's about time I stop dating on Sherman's underbelly."

"What do you want, his money or his body? Or both?"

"Neither. Now what is it you wanted me to talk about? How jealous you are?"

"No! It's more important. Ilana, his sister. I…like her. She's hot."

"You say that about every girl."

"…No comment. How do I get on his good side?"

"Did you display your battle abilities?"

"I shot a monster that had him and Ilana and their dad. Long story."

"You got her to join the nerd club? Wow."

"No, she's dating one of my classmates."

"Hold on, you want her when someone else has her? This doesn't surprise me. Just like how you made sweet talk to Chan's girl."

"Don't bring that up. I want to put that behind me."

"Why not? It's what brought us together in the first place. And if you wanted to put it behind you, you'd do what I'm doing and—oh wait, you are."

"Get it now? I see Ilana the way you see Lance. Sort of. So how do I get on his good side?"

"I think you're out of luck, to be honest. I'd suggest making Jason's life miserable, but underneath your tough exterior you're way too soft. I haven't seen that in Lance."

"You wouldn't do it, either, if you had to." Devon sighed and sat on the hood of a parked car. Kristen sat beside him, trying to share the pain.

"Who's to blame for what we've become, Kristen? Us or society?" Devon asked, wrapping an arm around her back.

"That's a question that we'll never be able to answer, Devon. It would take a hero for us to get out of this. And I don't mean like Titan," Kristen said, grabbing his shoulder. The two of them exchanged a kiss and then made their way back to school.

"Why'd you tell him I was a bad kisser?" Kristen asked Devon.

"I lied to try and get him off you. Ever gonna tell me what you put in your lipstick?"

"I've told you a thousand times, Devon, it's just some generic brand!"

. . . . .

As Lance and Ilana were driven home by Octus, he announced:

"We need to form Titan. I've detected the G3 ship flying a few not far from our location," the robot explained quickly. "Solomon has already contacted me privately, and says that he and Edward have some information regarding activity on the dark side of the moon."

"Great, I can see Dad again!" Lance said with a smile. Ilana was more curious about the information, however.

"What information? I thought they only had their eyes on us. Which makes me wonder: why didn't they help us last night?"

"You can ask them that when we get there," Octus suggested. "As for their source, they stated—quite surprisingly—that it was General Steel."

**Note: If you didn't get that scene with Kristen and Devon talking, don't worry about it. It's not relevant to this episode, but it will be relevant to a later one.**


	7. Planning the attack

Chapter 7

The Titan crew flew high in the sky and found the G3 airship. They landed on the ship as Titan, reverted to individual robots to go inside, and became human upon arrival. Lance gave Edward a hug when he saw him.

"Dad! It's so good to see you."

"Lance, my son, it was only a few nights ago that we last talked!" Edward said with a chuckle.

"I know, but I still miss you! What is it you brought us here for?"

Solomon answered as the two broke apart. "No doubt you're all wondering how that Mutradi came from the moon."

"Jason's astronomy teacher said it came from the dark side of the moon. It was so weird how he approached us right after the Mutradi died. Was he with you guys or something?"

"No. We're as confused as you as to why he showed up like that with helpful information, albeit something we could have figured out for ourselves." Lance suddenly grimaced at his father when Solomon said this.

"Speaking of showing up," he said to Edward, "Why did you not do anything when that Mutradi nearly killed us?" Edward hung his head.

"I wanted to, son. But we were too far away at the moment, trying to buy some supplies to construct the Rift Gate."

"We've had to search various…foreign markets for all the necessary material," Solomon explained. "But enough about that. In case you didn't already know, the dark side of the moon blocks radio waves on going to and coming from any device in the area. As a result, we can't intercept any communications or detect any sort of activity there. But we can still take pictures, and this one, taken by a US satellite, gives us a clue as to what's going on." Solomon activated a screen in the control room they were in, and an image of the moon's surface appeared. There also seemed to be a pillar with a flat top suspended just a few feet above the moon. Finally, silver lines could be seen that appeared to be the outline of a shape of some sort.

"If there's anything in that picture, it's using a cloaking device," Lance declared. Edward nodded.

"Brilliant deduction, my son. I see that the academy taught you well. From this picture alone, we don't have a good context as to where or what is going on. But it's a hunch that something is going on underneath our noses," Edward said. Just then, the screen changed from the picture to a video feed of General Steel.

"So what's the picture mean?" General Steel asked as his face came into view. Lance repeated what he had told the others.

"You sure about this?" Steel asked again.

"It's all we have to go on at this point," Lance replied, repeating his father's sentiments.

"What about that message I sent ya?" Steel asked Solomon.

"I was getting to that," Solomon replied, irritated that Steel was trying to speed him up.

"What message?" Ilana asked.

"Our satellite got a weird energy reading, and we gave it to G3. They said it was some kind of message," Steel explained.

"Yes, and we called you here right after we decoded, translated, and wrote it down," Solomon added. Edward gave him a sheet of paper with the message on it, and Solomon read it aloud to the group.

_This message is for Titan. If you're not Titan and you're reading this, send this to him, or Lance or Ilana. _

_This is Private Arthur Torius. I'm being held prisoner on a Mutradi base on Earth's moon. I think they plan on using me as a hostage for some plan to lure you guys here or something. I'd really like it if you could get me out of here!_

_I mean, I know this sounds like it may be a trap, but even if it was, wouldn't you want to go to the moonbase anyway to stop the Mutradi from appearing so rapidly and without warning? Somehow, they're able to launch them out of this cannon and send them to Earth rapidly. I don't get how Earth satellites can't detect the base, but that might be because it's underground._

_I also managed to find a room with archives. I'm not sure why they would even bother to have something like that here, but I was able to find some documents that looked pretty useful. I don't know for sure, though, since they're in some Mutradi language. But their titles were in Galalunan, and I think you, Ilana, would find them interesting._

_So please get to this moon base and rescue me! I know it's a pain—especially for you, Lance—but I don't want to be here anymore! I don't want to think about what they'll do to me when they realize I sent this! Bye!_

"How do we not know this is some sort of trap?" Steel said. "We don't have a Private Arthur Torius that I know of in the US military."

"I don't think he's from Earth," Solomon suggested.

"Of course not. Then he wouldn't know Galalunan," Ilana pointed out.

"These documents Arthur refers to sound as if they could give important information regarding the state of Galaluna since we've left it. We should retrieve them, if possible," Octus suggested.

"This just doesn't seem right," Edward chimed in. "Launching Mutradi out of canon? That's both impractical and scientifically impossible! How would they survive the vacuum of space and re-entry? And how could the Mutradi have built such a facility without anyone noticing?" He turned to Lance, wondering what he would have to say about the situation. "Something wrong?" he asked. Lance looked at the group now that all eyes were on him, looking both worried and sad.

"I can't believe Arthur's still alive after all this," he said, pausing for a few seconds before he continued. "This isn't fake. This is exactly how he would write something. But…why did they take him prisoner? And _how?_ And…I'm a little hurt that he thinks I would have forgotten him." Everyone else looked at him quizzically.

"Oh, yeah, you guys don't know him. He was my best friend back at the Academy—my only friend. He wasn't much of a soldier, but he was probably the only thing that kept me from…misery." Everyone took the way Lance said "misery" at face value, except for Edward, who had a shocked expression on his face.

"After that incident with Baron, we had a falling out. When we graduated, we were put into different units, and I never saw him since. I know this whole thing seems fishy, with a moonbase and cannons and archives and documents, but I promise, Arthur wouldn't lie. Especially not to me." Lance's expression suddenly became more defiant. "He's calling his only friend for help, and I _have _to answer him. Ilana, Octus, we're going, regardless of what you feel. We're going to need a ship to bring him home."

"Well I can't help you there," Steel said. "My boys and I are all caught up with stuff. And if you used one of our ships, the media would be on you guys like flies to vinegar!"

"We've got a ship you could use," Solomon offered. "Edward designed it, so it should be easy for you to use, Lance."

"Good. Dad, could you run me through how to operate it?" Lance asked.

"If you think that will help, son," Edward replied. Grabbing his cane, Lance escorted his father through the halls of G3.

"Thank you for assisting us, General Steel. Your information was vital to the mission," Octus said.

"Indeed. You've certainly changed from what you used to be," Ilana added.

"Bah, that's all in the past. Look at America's history, and you'll see that a lot of its enemies became its friends!" Steel replied, giving a salute before shutting off the video feed. Ilana then turned to Octus.

"Why don't you go see how that ship works, so that you can repair it later?" she suggested.

"This might be a useful thing to know. Good idea!" Octus declared, going the way Edward and Lance had gone.

"What is it you wanted to tell me?" Solomon asked.

"I need to send an email to some friends. They're backup. Lance and Octus don't know this yet, but I think they've figured out that I make up Titan. Don't tell anyone else what I told you, not even Edward. I don't know how any of them would react. It's just that, given the circumstances of what's been going in Sherman, I need to tell them a few things."

"I understand. Your secret is safe with me," Solomon replied.


	8. Battles in space

Chapter 8

Rather than flying in Titan our heroes had to fly a ship to the moon, piloted by Lance. It didn't quite handle like a Galalunan ship, but it was close enough for him to be familiar with its capabilities.

"It should be about a few hours before we reach the moon," Lance told Octus and Ilana. "Make sure you have your armor set to spacewalk. We'll probably need it out here." As Lance was speaking, the group saw 3 meteorites streaking towards them. On their present course, they didn't have to move out of the way, but they knew it would be risky to just let them land on Earth.

"Those are just like the meteorite that carried the Mutradi that attacked me!" Ilana exclaimed.

"I am detecting unfamiliar, but distinctly Mutradi energy signatures inside the meteorites," Octus added. "The moonbase from which they are being launched most likely encases them inside chambers of moon rocks to protect them during re-entry. But that alone would not allow them to survive the vacuum of space."

"We should kill them now so that we won't have to deal with them later," Lance said. "Both of you, get out there and try to destroy the meteorites. The creatures inside will die if you just make a hole in the rocks. You guys go after 2 of them, I'll take one with the ship's weapons. All it has are basic laser cannons, but it should be enough." Ilana turned on her armor, and she and Octus immediately went into a room separate from Lance's. After the door had closed behind them, they opened a door panel that opened up into space. The suction from its vacuum forced them out, but once they were out there they managed to stabilize themselves and started to shoot at the meteorites. They were all about the size of Titan, but nowhere near as durable. Each Titan member worked on separate meteorites, managing to deteriorate them as they were hurtling towards Earth. Lance managed to destroy his first, but when he did he got quite a surprise.

The Mutradi inside seemed to be completely unaffected, simply swimming in space. It appeared to be a large orange-furred gorilla-like creature with tusks and four oversized hands, the latter two being where its feet should be, similar to that of various Earth primates. The ape Mutradi punched the ship, damaging its shields. Lance found that his cannons were too weak, so he was forced to avoid the monster as it swam through space after him.

"Octus, how is that thing able to survive space?!" Lance asked through his armor. "Mutradi can't do that!"

"There appears to be an oxygen bubble around their bodies that seem to protect them as they move. I didn't pick these up until after yours broke out of its encasement," Octus explained.

"I think we should stop attacking the other two," Ilana decided. "They could all of have these things, and that would make things much tougher for us."

"But if we don't, then they'll land on Earth and wreak havoc!" Lance pointed out. "Maybe they could go after my Dad! I'll try and get the ship out somewhere safe, and then we'll form Titan!" But the ape-monster suddenly slammed his fist on the ship, making a huge dent. Ilana and Octus tried to zap and blast the ape monster, but their attacks did little to distract it from pummeling the ship.

"The thrusters are disabled! I can't move the ship!" Lance told Ilana and Octus. "Hold on, guys, I have an idea!" Ilana and Octus watched as the ape monster kept pounding at the ship with all of its fists for a few more seconds. From inside the ship, Lance turned on his armor and withdrew a grenade. He then used Manus' sword to make a hole in the ship. Seeing this, the ape tried to grab him, but Lance quickly turned off his armor, reverting to his spacewalk form. This allowed him to quickly dive out of the way of the ape's hand, leaving it to unwittingly pick up the grenade instead. Lance quickly left the ship the same way Ilana and Octus had done as the grenade exploded in the ape's hand. Lance quickly turned on his armor again and joined up with Ilana and Octus.

"Oh, thank goodness! I thought something had happened in there!" Ilana exclaimed upon seeing him.

"I had to distract him with a grenade. We're gonna need Titan to take this thing out." And so the group formed Titan as the ape withdrew its hand to face them.

"What's up with his hand?" Lance wondered, looking at the hand where the grenade had exploded in. It appeared to be swollen and limp, as well as charred from the explosion.

"During the explosion, all parts of the oxygen overshield of the monster that were caught in the blast radius dissipated momentarily," Octus explained. "Explosive attacks could damage or even rupture the oxygen overshields around the Mutradi, exposing them partially or completely to the vacuum of space."

"Let's use something that causes explosions, then! Initiating Cosmic Bow!" Ilana commanded Titan, and the aforementioned weapon appeared.

"Let's use the Neuron missiles, too!" Lance added. Titan's shoulder changed to expose the missiles. The ape roared in challenge, the circulation having returned to its bad hand. It swung a fist at Titan, but it was hit with an arrow. Just like before, the explosion of the arrow upon impact caused the hand to lose circulation for a moment, stunning the ape. When Titan tried to fire a third arrow at its chest, however, it caught on to the game and dodged it. The ape then delivered a punch to Titan, knocking out the bow from the force of the blow. The ape then reached for it and tried to break it, but Titan gave it a kick and grabbed its bow back. It fired another arrow, this one landing on the ape's shoulder. The ape tried to punch Titan again, but the robot dodged and shot another arrow into its side. The ape lunged for Titan, but it backed away out of its reach with its jets and fired more arrows from a distance. The ape was pelted all over with arrows, but the explosions seemed to do it little physical harm. But as the ape tried to attack Titan again, its eyelids fluttered, and arms moved more slowly.

"Its oxygen overshield is depleting! One more attack!" Octus told them. Titan fired one last arrow at the ape's chest. The explosion did little damage as usual, but the ape suddenly passed out in space, and its body began to swell.

"The vacuum of space will kill it within minutes," Octus said. "Let's move on to the next monsters." As if to answer him, the other two monsters emerged. One was a biped, brown, and eyeless creature with four tentacles tipped with claws. The other was a giant scorpion with only a wide, circular mouth where its face should have been that had tendrils on its lips.

_I've been meaning to test a pair of rejects like yourselves against Titan. Just rough him up a bit, _Modula told the monsters telepathically. Titan fired an arrow from its Cosmic Bow, but the scorpion caught it with its pincer and broke it seamlessly. The brown monster punched Titan with one tentacle claw, wrapped up an arm and a leg with two more and used the last one to snatch away the Cosmic Bow, breaking it with its knee. Titan fired its jets to try and knock off the brown monster, but it held on and grabbed Titan's shoulder with its free hand, its tentacle placing itself on the missile carriers.

"Quick! Fire a Neuron missile while its hand is there!" Lance said.

"But won't that damage us, too?" Ilana pointed out.

"It's the only way to weaken it! Do it!" he cried. Titan did so, and the explosion knocked away both combatants and split them apart. Titan rolled and rotated through space, unable to control itself.

"Attempting to stabilize balance. The explosion from the missile damaged the monster's circulation, but at a cost to our mobility," Octus informed them.

"I knew that was a bad idea," Ilana remarked. Before Lance could respond, its arms were grabbed by the scorpion from the front, who held it in place while it opened its gaping mouth to breathe sludge in Titan's face.

"Our shields are deteriorating from the toxins of its breath," Octus said.

"Use another Neuron missile!" Lance ordered.

"No, not yet! We've gotta shake this off some other way!" Ilana urged him.

"Do you have any ideas?" Lance asked with irritation.

"Yes." Ilana made Titan swing its legs forward and kicked the scorpion, moving Titan's legs back down as the scorpion was knocked away to stabilize it.

"_Now_ we can fire the misiles!" Ilana declared. Titan did so, and the scorpion cringed and closed its mouth as the missile hit its exoskeleton.

"Its mouth seems to be the weak point. Also, the other Mutradi is behind us," Octus told the others. Titan quickly withdrew its sword and slashed at the creature from behind, slicing off a tentacle arm. The brown monster dodged another attack as Titan turned around and tried to slice at it again, with the scorpion now sneaking up on it. It tackled Titan from behind and gripped the robot's shoulders, tearing out the missiles and trying to dismantle them while it fought the brown monster. Meanwhile the brown Mutradi knocked the sword out of Titan's hands, forcing it to now rely on its shield.

"Our jets are disabled from the damage we're taking. Our armor will shatter if this keeps up," Octus warned. "I believe that…hold on. I've just discovered a new weapon. Initiating controlled self-destruct sequence!"

"WHAT?!" cried the teens.

**Sorry if this chapter seemed to have a lot of dialogue in the fight. And to think I prized myself over having silent battles! I guess this one was special. After all, it was in space! …Where sound can't travel :/**


	9. Lunar skirmish

The Titan crew awoke to find themselves separated. Lance awoke first, still alive because he and Ilana had wisely switched so that their spacewalk suits would activate if their armor shattered. He found that he and Ilana were safe inside Octus' bubble. Lance broke free (protected by his helmet) and activated his armor. Ilana did the same when she woke up a few seconds later.

"Don't do that again. We were worried you were killing us!" Lance said.

"I wouldn't have done that. My programming prevents me from doing so, as does my conscience," Octus reassured him.

"What exactly did you do?" Ilana asked.

"I had Titan's armor explode," Octus said simply. "As I suspected, the blast killed the Mutradi." Octus pointed to the swollen bodies of said Mutradi as their lifeless bodies drifted in space. "The blast was quite powerful, but still controlled in that it would not be lethal to us…that is to say, the explosion itself wouldn't harm us."

"That was still very risky," Ilana pointed out.

"I hope we don't have to do that again. But if the time comes…we will," Lance told Octus.

"Indeed. It should only be used as a last resort. Now, I suggest that we lay low and stay in our current forms from now until this mission is over. We may be able to evade detection until we reach the moonbase."

"Good idea. But what about Arthur? Our ship was destroyed, thanks to Lance's strategy," Ilana pointed out.

"It was my only choice!" Lance protested. "Besides, there are probably some Mutradi ships docked within the moonbase somewhere. I might be able to fly one of those out of here once we find Arthur."

. . . . .

Meanwhile, Arthur was being held in the brig of the moon base. A TV screen had been placed in his cell to allow him to watch Titan's battle. Marius Cinna stood guard outside the cell, watching Arthur's reactions to the battle. When Titan exploded, Arthur's expression changed from shock to sorrow, and a sickening grin appeared on Marius' face.

"They're dead…" Arthur said breathlessly.

"And it's all your fault!" sneered Marius. "Their lives were at stake trying to save you. And it was all for nothing." Just then, a voice came over a loudspeaker, apparently the voice of the Mutradi that had tricked Arthur.

"Titan is not dead. We've detected their respective armor's signals—very faint—and they are heading this way. Code Silver is into effect now. Battle stations, everyone!" Marius' grin turned to a frown.

"Of course," he said with disdain. "Titan isn't defeated so easily. I'm starting to doubt if we can kill it." He then turned his gaze to Arthur. "But we can always kill you."

"But why? Just because I was Lance's friend once? Maybe he doesn't care about me anymore," Arthur tried to be as sincere as possible when he said this, but Marius didn't seem to believe his ruse.

"Don't talk such rubbish. Do you think we'd just led you go if that were true? If there's one thing I know about people that proclaim themselves as 'defenders of the weak', like Lance, is that he'd never let a hostage stay in captivity. Lance will come for you, Arthur, I gurantee it, and when he does things will take a turn of the worse for both of you!" And with that Marius turned and left the brig in a huff.

This gave Arthur a chance to think. He hated being trapped here, forcing Lance and the others to come and rescue him. If he wasn't here, then they would have a much easier time destroying this moon base. Heck, if he wasn't here then they probably would have been able to have destroyed this place by now!

He and his chubby body were just in the way. And yet…Lance cared enough to come over here. He wouldn't know for sure what deliberations took place, but he was sure that Lance had been the one to insist that Arthur was worth saving. And yet…

Arthur simply decided to stop thinking about the motive behind his rescue for now. Titan would be coming here soon, and it was his job to help in any way that he could.

. . . . .

The Titan crew finally landed on the moon. It was quite an experience for them since none of them had ever been to a lifeless planet before.

"Scanning…no intelligent life anywhere. Save for at a crater far away, known as the Daedalus crater," Octus told them. "Beneath this crater is most likely where the moon base is located. It will take us approximately 45 minutes to reach it." As they flew over endless craters on the moon, they couldn't help but notice how different the moon was from their own moons.

"Wow…I know the moon is not supposed to have any life on it, but I didn't think it would be so…dead-looking," Ilana remarked. "No atmosphere, no plants, no animals, no water…nothing. Just rocks. It just seems so lonely here."

"Exactly. It's the perfect place to hide. The Earth people would never have suspected a thing until it was too late," Lance agreed. Suddenly, Octus began to beep.

"I'm picking up signals of some Mutradi life-forms approaching us. Prepare to engage."

"Should we form Titan?" Ilana suggested.

"Not possible at the moment," Octus told her. "Titan's armor has not completely repaired itself from the explosion. I will notify you when it will be possible again. We will have to fight as we are." They all touched down on the ground to get ready for another battle. Dozens of human-sized Mutradi appeared on the horizon. Lance fired a few missiles, but they saw them coming and dodged, continuing their pursuit. It appeared to consist of Mucoloxes (the swamp demons that Ilana was infected by), Cephalavicans (Xeexi's race), Formutoids (the blue shape-shifting creatures), and Nephilimites (the common gray-brown Mutradi), and a few Somortites (one of them gave Lance and Ilana nightmares). All of them were wearing protective armor designed for their specific species, as well as space helmets and jet packs to let them fly around a bit. The group knew it would take more than a few explosions to kill them.

"Everybody split up!" Lance declared, charging headlong into the center of the Mutradi group. Octus took the left flank and Ilana took the right. The Mutradi shot at them with some the weapons they had been issued—standard issue Mutradi ray guns—which, while not especially powerful, certainly posed a threat in large numbers if our heroes were hit repeatedly. The Mutradi fired their guns, and our heroes fired their missiles, lasers, electric shocks, and whatever else they could think of.

Lance mainly stayed as close to his group as possible, trying to overpower them with the brute force of his sword and fists on the ground. He would sometimes launch a few guns and missiles at the Mutradi when they attempted to scatter about, but for the most part he stuck to physical attacks. Occasionally he would toss grenades or launch missiles into his ally's groups to provide assistance.

Ilana stayed in the air, knowing that her armor by design couldn't deliver as much damage physically, although it could certainly withstand as much as Lance's. She spent her time shooting lasers into her group when they tried to shoot at her from the ground, and when they took to the air in their jet packs she knocked them out of the sky with a few punches and kicks. She used her shield sparingly, trying to determine in her mind whether or not she could dodge oncoming attacks.

Octus had the most difficulty fighting individually, given that his gel provided only so much protection, and he wasn't able to give or take as much damage as the others. He tried various tactics to lessen the amount of Mutradi after him: grabbing them in large groups and shocking them, grabbing one and using it like a club to hit the others, grabbing several and launching them at the groups. Using his multiple cords like arms he would either use them to disarm individual Mutradi by knocking the guns out of their hands, or he would spin them about after electrifying them. This last attack was his deadliest, but he couldn't use it too often because it required a lot of power.

The Cephalvicans were mostly unarmed, preferring instead to try and grab their opponents with their tentacles and hold them down while more powerful Mutradi delivered deadlier attacks. Some would use their agility to dodge attacks and shoot from a safe distance.

The Nephilimites were the most numerous of the Mutradi in the group, delivering most of the shooting and hitting. They were too heavy for to use their jetpacks too often, however, so they mostly stuck to the ground. But their powerful fists and durability guaranteed that if our heroes stayed on the ground too long they would be in for a world of hurt. Most of them provided especially great difficulty to Lance since he rarely flew in this fight.

The Mucoloxes would fly very often in their jet packs, their light frames and speed giving them time to slash at our heroes' armor with their powerful claws. But one powerful attack had the tendency to kill them, and so they took more casualties than the others.

The Somortites would mostly behind as well, hitting the Titan crew with magic blasts or telekinetically lifting moon rocks to mess them up. More importantly, however, they also provided shields with their magic, sometimes protecting up to 10 or so Mutradi at once from virtually anything when they saw fit. They numbered least of the Mutradi species there.

The Formutoids tried a variety of tactics; some would fly on their jetpacks and deliver physical attacks, some would transform into one of the other Mutradi species and fight as them, and still others turned into copies of Manus, Corus, or Octus himself and fight in the same way they would. None of them had the capability of turning giant like the one our heroes had fought a while back, though.

After what seemed like ages, the group suddenly began to retreat. All of their fighting energy had suddenly disappeared, and the group flew away as if they had never attacked in the first place.

"What's going on? Why are they retreating?" Ilana wondered.

"I don't know. It's got to be some sort of trap," Lance proposed.

"Whatever their plan is, what choice do we have but to press onward?" Octus reminded them. The Titan crew agreed and wasted no time doing just that.


	10. Finding the brig

The Titan crew finally approached the Daedalus Crater, where Octus was sure the entrance to the moonbase was. Sure enough, he was correct: an unusual metal panel in the shape of a giant square was at the bottom of the crater.

"Titan's armor has recharged, so we may form it again if necessary," Octus told them.

"Good to know. It's time to go again. Nobody blow anything up since Arthur's down there," Lance told them. "And let me know if either of you find the brig. Arthur's likely being kept there."

"How do we get in?" Ilana asked.

"Titan is our solution, as usual," Octus explained. So the group formed Titan briefly to lift up the pad for a moment, reverting back to their spacewalk forms to slip through. Octus closed the panel back in place, not wishing to let the vacuum of space suck everything out. Lance and Ilana turned on their armors as they fell down to the landing bay below, where the Mutradi were waiting for them. Most had weapons, and the few that didn't jumped and latched on to our heroes, tackling them with surprising force. Lance quickly brushed off the ones that had latched onto him and shot them all with Manus' machine guns. Ilana quickly used her shields to knock off hers, and Octus just electrocuted the ones that had gathered onto him. The remaining Mutradi with weapons tried to stay back and fire, but our heroes were too durable and too quick to be impeded by this now-diminished group. A few attacks sent most of them scattering, save one Formutoid that fired his gun at Corus' heart. Octus immediately rushed to tend to Ilana as she fell from the blow at her weak point, while Lance tried to step on the Formutoid that did this in anger. But the Mutradi nimbly leaped up and landed itself on Manus' face.

"Forgetting our priorities, are we? What ever happened to saving poor Arthur?" The Formutoid asked Lance quizzically. The only thing separating them was a metal mask about a foot thick. Lance was too stunned by the fact that this Mutradi could speak (Galalunan) English and worried by his question to react. Thankfully Ilana had recovered by this point and shot a laser at the Formutoid, knocking it away and sending it running off with the others. But not before giving Lance an eerie look with its red eyes.

"Are you all right, Ilana? Sorry I zoned out there," Lance said.

"I'm fine! I didn't know Mutradi had that good aim!" She remarked. _They don't, _Lance thought as they continued out of the hangar and into a hallway leading in multiple directions.

"Which way is the brig?" Lance asked Octus.

"I cannot tell. The fact that we are on the dark side of the moon blocks off my contact with Earth satellites. I usually use these to survey unfamiliar locations, but since I have no contact with them I cannot map out this facility until I have explored it."

"Ok, split up, then!" Lance ordered. Octus was about to do so when Ilana held out her hand to stop him.

"No, that's ridiculous! Remember what happened the last time we raided a Mutradi facility and split up? We all got captured! We can't let that happen again! If we can't just instantly figure out where the brig is, it would be best for us all to stick together!" Ilana argued.

Lance gave her words some thought. In the past he would have insisted on his way, but now he had come to see Ilana as more than just a princess with no knowledge of fighting. She _had _just fought off a Mutradi by herself, after all. Well, she didn't quite kill it, but she did most of the damage and saved Jason and his friends. "All right, we'll go together," he decided. "I just want to get Arthur out of here. He'll be valuable in giving us this information—and as my friend."

"I understand," Ilana said. Lance and Octus were about to run off when Ilana piped up again.

"Hey, Lance?"

"What? Don't waste time, Mutradi could be on us any second!"

"There _is _another idea I have. Just give me a minute to talk to Solomon. I want to see if they can do anything to help us," Ilana told him. Ilana activated the communication system on her armor and called Solomon.

"Ilana? What happened? We're completely in the dark about your whereabouts. Edward is getting worried. Lance is still alive, right?"

"Yes, he's still alive!" Ilana then went on to explain the predicament they were in regarding Octus mapping out the brig.

"We can't help you there," Solomon reminded her. "The dark side of the moon is..."

"I know that. But send the email to my friends. I think they might be able to solve the problem," Ilana suggested.

"What makes you think that a secret organization with technology from _your _advanced civilization would be incapable of mapping out a building on the dark side of the moon while a few teenagers that seem to be little more than friends of your boyfriend with primitive Earth technology capable of solving your problem?" Solomon demanded.

"They're smarter than you'd give them credit for," Ilana argued. "It wouldn't hurt to try." And so Solomon did as she asked.

. . . .

Mark was in the middle of engaging in a vast flame war on the Internet over the practicality of space colonization when his computer made that sound it always made when he got an email. Gregory, Devon, Maribel and Jason got it too. It read like this:

_Dear Starbecuers,_

_Don't be alarmed by the fact that the email address says "unknown". This is Ilana. I had to have this sent to you by G3, a group closely related to Titan and his robot friends._

_While this may have been something that you figured out already, I am one of those robot friends. That is to say, I'm the pilot of the robot. I'm not actually a robot, but one of the other two is. But that's not what's important._

_The point is that my brothers Lance and Newton aren't my family at all, but my guardians. In fact the whole Lunis family is a sham. Lance and I transform into fighting machines through our watches and Newton does so through the use of holograms. When the need arises we combine ourselves to form Titan and fight off aliens known as Mutradi that want to conquer Earth. They have a base on the moon from which they have begun to send their monsters at a much faster rate than before, and they also have a friend of ours hostage. We need you, as soon as possible, to map out this moon base for us so that we can find out where they are holding our friend. Normally our robots would do the work for us, but because we are on the dark side of the moon this is impossible. Time is of the essence with this task! I apologize for not having revealed all this about myself before, but now was the best situation in which I could do it._

_-Ilana_

Mark immediately called the others and demanded that they open up Skype. Minutes later all of them were awkwardly looking at each other through their computer screens, minus Devon.

"Anybody know where Devon is?" Maribel asked. "We need everybody to make this work!"

"Guys, do you realize what Ilana's just told all of us? Can we even believe her?" Jason asked the group nervously.

"Jason, stop being a starry-eyed lover and get to pinpointing the coordinates of their location on the moon!" Mark ordered him. "Maribel, run the program to map out the facility once Jason pinpoints it! Gregory, get that mini-rocket of yours ready!"

"And what are you gonna do? Yell at us from your nice, comfy room?"

"No! I'm going to be making a satellite to attach to the rocket to transmit the data from it to the robots, duh! Now everybody get to work, me included! Say, how did you know my room was comfy?"

"Come on, guys, focus!" Maribel urged.

"Right. Mark out!" Mark said, leaving Skype as quickly as he had joined. Gregory did so as well. Jason was a bit hesitant, and Maribel could tell.

"This must be a lot for you to take in," she said. "But didn't you ever get the feeling Ilana wasn't…like us?"

"Yeah. But now I can't deny it anymore," he told her.

Minutes later, the group gathered together in Mark's backyard, the rocket with the satellite and data attached ready for takeoff.

"Do you think this will actually work?" Jason asked them.

"As sure as your girlfriend hides things from us," Gregory reassured him. And then he lit the fuse.

"Everybody get back!" Mark cried as the rocket was about to lift off. It initially had about as much power as an ordinary model rocket, but then Mark pressed a button on a remote he had to activate the secret thrusters. The rocket suddenly shot skyward and impossible speeds until it was out of sight.

"Ok, now we're going to have to drive out and search for the stages as they fall down!" he told the group. "And make sure to collect anything that leaked out!" As Jason did as instructed he tried to focus his mind off what he would say to Ilana when she got back. Or if she got back.

. . . .

"Whatever you were whispering about, you made sure Dad knew I was alive in it, right?" Lance asked when he saw Ilana rejoin him.

"Don't worry, he knows."

"Good, now let's move!" The Titan crew went down the hallway on their left, hoping desperately that it would be the right direction. They encountered various squadrons of Mutradi, but most of them stood little chance, and our heroes bowled right through them. The Galalunan traitors on board were few and mostly stayed out of fighting, but whenever the group saw one it was guaranteed that he would not be spared. Lance had wanted to use his sword on each one that he found, but at Ilana's insistence he merely shot them with a missile instead. After wandering around for a while they finally found the archive room and rested there.

"How long have we been searching this place?" Lance asked Octus.

"48 minutes and 37 seconds." Lance turned to Ilana at Octus' response.

"When is that idea of yours going to kick in?"

"Soon, I promise!" Suddenly, Octus began to beep.

"I have received data from an unfamiliar spacecraft. It has given me a map of the facility. Follow me to the brig." The teens did so.

"Ilana, what did you do?" Lance asked. She didn't answer.


	11. An old enemy returns

The Titan crew immediately headed out of the archives room, breaking past the barrier of Mutradi without even bothering to fight them. Now that they knew where the brig was, they didn't have to waste time fighting enemy troops in hopes that they guarded something important. Ilana flew closest to the roof, with Octus having compacted in a tight ball just in front of her, while Lance simply bowled over any Mutradi in his way. The teens managed to barely keep up with Octus, straining their jets as fast as they could go as they rounded tight corners and rushed through hallways that all seemed to look alike.

. . . .

From inside his cell in the brig, Arthur waited anxiously as he saw Mutradi outside run past his cell from both directions, apparently trying to intercept our heroes. But then Arthur saw Marius Cinna stop by the cell with a blaster in his hand, escorted by the fake baby Cephalavican. Marius unlocked the cell door while the Mutradi waited outside to make sure Arthur wouldn't use the opportunity to escape. Arthur knew better than to risk it; Lance was coming soon to free him.

"Get out of that form. They'll be here soon," Marius Cinna reminded the Mutradi. "I don't see why you like it so much." The Mutradi obeyed and turned back into his normal Formutoid body.

"I like it. It flies in the face of logic and really showed the boy's stupidity," the Mutradi said with a chuckle. "It's a shame his mind isn't broken like Lance's was." Marius ignored him and pointed his blaster at Arthur's temple.

"It's a good thing Lance always failed miserably in hostage simulations. Especially during the coup," he remarked to Arthur.

"What do you mean, remember that time when Lance beat Baron in the game where we all had to rescue that guy in the ship?" Marius responded by whacking Arthur with the butt of his weapon.

"This isn't a training mission, you fool! Lance doesn't have a chance at saving you! All I need to do is pull the trigger at his lowest point, and then you'll both be dead!"

"Why wait? Can't you just kill me now?" Arthur asked.

"Try telling that to him," Marius said, referring to the Mutradi that was now glancing at Arthur with its red eyes. It gave a hearty laugh and replied:

"Don't you know anything about psychological and emotional pain? And yet all the Mutradi deemed you humans to be smarter after careful research."

"Yes, the ideal force for hegemony," Marius Cinna added. Arthur was too puzzled by what they said to really know what was going on, so he simply decided to keep waiting.

. . . .

After a few minutes, the Titan crew arrived at the brig to find Marius and the Mutradi still in the same positions they had been in earlier. The door of the cell, Octus discovered upon scanning, was made of an alloy of various metals that made it quite sturdy. Not a problem to break down, but Marius would definitely be able to shoot and kill Arthur more quickly. A horizontal window in the cell that stretched the full length of the cell door let them see into it.

Lance, upon seeing the situation, immediately tried to raise a hand to smash the door, but the Mutradi stopped him with by grabbing Manus' arm. It wasn't a strong grab, but there was something about the touch of this Mutradi that made Lance feel all sorts of negative emotions. Marius used the time Lance was distracted to announce his ultimatum:

"Lance, if you and your friends don't power down, Arthur dies!" Lance lowered his hand, his eyes shifting from Marius to Arthur to the Mutradi, thinking of what he could do. But something in his mind seemed to make him unable to form up a plan.

"What do we do, guys?" Ilana asked her guardians. Octus, who had released his wire-like arms in preparation to break the cell door down, retracted them back.

"Any one of us could break down the door, but by then it would be too late," the robot explained to her. Ilana powered down, staying close to Octus in case a group of Mutradi tried to ambush the group during the standoff.

"Well, Lance? Your friends have seen sense. Why can't you join them?" Marius demanded. Lance was too unsure to say anything. After a few silent seconds, Ilana spoke up.

"Lance, I think it would be best for your friend and us if you just listened to him." Her words were unusually soft and meek, as if she were afraid that someone would attack her upon saying them if they were in a bad mood.

"No! That's just what _he_ wants! What _they _want!" Lance cried. "Stop toying with my mind! I'm not playing this little game of yours!" He said this to the Mutradi, who glared at him a bit before turning to Marius. The Mutradi's eyes glowed in response, and blue flaming eyebrows appeared above them. The Mutradi then began to change its color, shape and texture until it turned into someone Lance recognized: Thanatos, the ghostly Mutradi that had possessed him before. Lance practically growled as the ghost gave a toothless grin.

"Why are you here? I thought I killed you! And what do you want with Arthur?" Thanatos turned to Marius, indicating that he wanted him to do the explaining.

"All of this," Marius began, "Was built to lure you into our clutches. Both you and Ilana. The documents, the more frequent Mutradi attacks, all of it was built to lure you in. I want Ilana to bring back to Modula. The General has been calling for her public execution for some time now."

"And _I _want your mind served to me on a silver platter," Thanatos told Lance, "Properly broken in preparation so that I may take control of you once and for all!" Upon saying this, Thanatos unleashed a pale blue wave of energy that send Octus reeling and forced Lance out of his armor. Ilana tried to turn hers back on but found that she couldn't.

"What did you do?!" she asked Thanatos. Octus got up and told her.

"He has unleashed a powerful electromagnetic pulse. Your armor and Lance's is disabled for the time being," he explained with a surprising amount of calmness in his tone. Although he was a robot and had difficulty speaking with emotion, Ilana could tell that he was concerned about the situation.

"Why me?" Lance asked Thanatos, ignoring the fact that he was out of his armor. He reasoned it was only temporary. Thanatos' eyebrows blazed at the question.

"You are the most powerful of the three that make up Titan. Even without the armor you were considered Galaluna's finest soldier. If I could leave your mind broken to the point where it could never resist me, then I would have control of the most powerful Galalunan, next to our General. And with me inside of your mind and soul, you would never age! I would finally have the perfect host, with both of us being immortal! But I would be the one in control of you, forever!"

"Do you think I'd just let you do that to me? I'm not just some puppet you can play with!" Lance cried defiantly.

"I first tried using the lust in your mind to force it to break," Thanatos went on. "But that didn't seem to be enough. You were resisting too much. Once I learned of your memories, however, I knew that the best thing for me to use against you was your grief. Which is why Arthur is here, the only friend who helped you through the darkest part of your life. When he dies you will be broken at last." Arthur looked at Thanatos from outside his cell, more scared than he had ever been in his life.

"Lance, don't let them kill me! I don't wanna die!" he cried nervously.

"Don't worry, Arthur. I don't let my friends die," Lance reassured him. Turning to Thanatos again, he said, "Look, if you want me that badly, just…come and take me. Leave Arthur out of this. Just take my mind and leave him alone. He's innocent." Thanatos smiled, motioning for Marius to open the cell door and get the blaster away from Arthur.

"Very well, then. It seems you have some capacity for reason after all," Thanatos remarked as Marius pushed Arthur outside. Arthur immediately ran to Octus and Ilana behind Lance. Ilana tried to open her mouth and say something, but Octus silenced her, briefly activating his hologram to give her a wink. Ilana wasn't sure what to make of this, but she could tell that Octus now had some sort of plan in motion.

And so the group watched as Thanatos raise a ghostly claw and placed it on Lance's forehead.

"No resistance?" Thanatos asked.

"I promise," Lance replied. "You can check to see if I'm lying."

"Sounds like a good idea. Let's see, where in your mind is the—AGGH!"

Thanatos was suddenly shot away from Lance and into the cell with Marius by a blast of lighting from Octus, who lunged forward past Lance and zapped both Marius and Thanatos with immense amounts of electricity. His normally yellow eye glowed red with anger.

"WE DON'T COMPROMISE WITH SCUM LIKE YOU," Octus said in a loud booming voice. Lance, Ilana, and Arthur watched in shock and surprise as Octus electrocuted Marius to death. After enough shocks throughout his entire body, Thanatos simply disappeared. Octus then turned to his friends, his eye turning back to yellow. He took Lance and Ilana's watches and energized them a bit. "The armor should recharge in about 20 minutes. For now, you will all simply have to follow me to the hangar."

The group did as the robot instructed, since now he was the only one with the knowledge of the area. About halfway to the hangar a group of Mutradi appeared and tried to shoot at them, but Octus went ahead of the others and punched out, shoved, and zapped the Mutradi. As the group retrieved the weapons of the enemies they found themselves being ambushed by another group, this time of Galalunan traitors. Lance and Ilana immediately charged into the fray, dodging the blasts to fight the Galalunans with punches and kicks, showing them no mercy despite being human. Arthur stayed close to Octus and shot at anyone that Lance and Ilana had missed. The group continued until they came to a locked door that seemed to look no different from the others. Octus used his wires to unlock, revealing a bunch of Mutradi weapons.

"Arthur, acquire a better weapon in here. Lance, Ilana, your armor should be recharged now," Octus instructed. Lance and Ilana turned on their armors again while Arthur found himself a Mutradi-made machine gun. It functioned like the normal Earth variety of machine guns except that it shot plasma blasts which made a small explosion when they hit their target, rather than bullets. Just before they kept going, however, Octus asked Arthur a question:

"Where are these documents you claim to have? Now would be a good time to produce them. I will scan their contents into my memory banks so that you can throw them away."

"Oh, yeah! Sure thing!" Arthur said, producing the documents to let Octus scan them. While Octus did this the teens looked at the titles with intrigue.

"The Mutradi were really hoping this would work," Ilana remarked. "They were willing to let secret information become vulnerable just to try and catch us."

"Thanatos and his ilk are complete idiots. They talk smart, but they certainly don't act smart," Lance agreed.

"Perhaps this information is not top secret, but perhaps common knowledge," Octus suggested. "Perhaps they actually _want _us to know about their plans." After scanning the documents, Ilana asked, "Well? What do they say?"

"I am not able to decipher or translate Mutradi languages. Because your father did not know the languages he was not able to pass them on to me," Octus explained.

"I'll bet _my _father might have a good idea, though," Lance pointed out.

"Most likely. But first we must escape."

The group continued onward to the hangar, ready to be rid of the moonbase at last. Once Arthur had escaped, they could form Titan and destroy the thing once and for all. But when they finally got to the hangar, they found a small, flat, chrome ship hovering in front of them. The front window of the ship became transparent to reveal that Thanatos was its pilot.

"I should have known your offer was bogus, Lance!" he cried angrily. "And for that you will ALL be dying!" Thanatos used the cannons on his ship to blast at the group, severely damaging Lance and Ilana's armors and hurting Octus. Arthur cowered in fear, only to find that Thanatos had not aimed for him. The boy then noticed Thanatos rotated his ship to the right, about to shoot Lance some more, hoping to kill him first.

_He doesn't think I'm a threat, _Arthur realized. _What can I do with this information? _He quickly got an idea, heading back outside the hangar to search the bodies of the Mutradi and Galalunans killed for weapons. He found just what he was looking for, 2 Mutradi-made energy grenades, and smaller version of Titan's Cronus chain.

He was about to go back when something else caught his eye: a rare and unusual Mutradi weapon known in the Academy as a "Basher". This strange gun—if one could call it that—released a large, flat, square slab at targets with enough force to either clear out anyone in the way or even kill them from the force of the blow. After extending about 20 feet, it would begin to retract back inside the square barrel of the gun. Arthur remembered seeing these during the coup, where they were used like ranged battering rams again and again. The one drawback of the weapon was the time it took for the slab to retract itself; if the extendable metal rod that the slab stayed attached to was severed then the weapon became useless, so it was mainly used for sieges rather than battles. But with the way Thanatos was distracted, it was perfect.

Time to wreak some havoc.

**I thought this was going to be the last chapter, but I was wrong. The chapter AFTER this will be the last chapter of this episode! Still not quite sure what will happen in it, though.**


	12. Not in vain

Chapter 12

Arthur quickly made it back to the hangar to find the Titan crew struggling to survive. Lance was trying to block Thanatos' ship with his hand as he tried to shield a weakened Octus, who was being carried to safety by Ilana. Lance had already tried using Manus' standard weapons to damage the ship; none of them seemed to work. Octus was still functioning, and his light was still glowing, but his wires had all retracted again, and the gel bubble that usually surrounded him was red color instead of its normal blue.

Thanatos' ship only had basic blasters, but the rate and point-blank range at which they were firing began to cripple his armor. Ilana tried to blast at the ship with a laser, but Thanatos strafed his ship so that it crashed into her, knocking her away and shattering her armor. Octus weakly caught her just in time, and by the time the two got back to Lance his armor had fallen away, too. Thanatos watched the group gather together briefly to see if they could plan their next move.

"Can we form Titan?" Ilana asked.

"No! Remember Arthur?" Lance reminded her.

"I think he's dead," Ilana suggested just before the group heard a thud. They all scattered, assuming it was some dangerous weapon Thanatos was going to use. But when Lance turned around first to face the ship he saw a curved blade attached to a chain sticking in it. Arthur was holding onto the chain and climbing it up to the top of the ship. Lance didn't have a clue what Arthur's plan was, but whatever it was he knew he had to help somehow. So he ran to face the bow of Thanatos' ship, hoping he could provide some sort of distraction.

But Thanatos realized there was something on his ship nonetheless, so he tried to rotate and shake whatever it was off. Arthur was quickly flung off of it and would have crashed into the wall had Ilana not seen him and caught him by reactivating her armor and creating a shield for him to bounce harmlessly off of. Octus watched the action in a corner, attempting to repair himself quickly so that he could rejoin the fight.

Thanatos, thinking he had got rid of Arthur, focused back on Lance. But what he didn't realize was that Lance's armor had already repaired itself, so he was able to reactivate it and flew to dodge the ghost ship's blasters. Thanatos angrily tried to rotate his ship so that it faced him (chasing him around was impossible in such a small hangar as this), but Lance simply darted out of the way every time Thanatos tried to shoot. Ilana joined in and caused more confusion for him.

With Thanatos sufficiently distracted, Arthur retrieved the Basher and grabbed the chain that dangled from the ship and climbed up again. He climbed as high as he could without actually having to on top of the ship and fired the Basher from underneath, aiming towards the front of the ship where he thought Thanatos was. The slab burst through the hull of the ship and tumbled Thanatos. Arthur landed on his feet as the debris of the ship crumbled around him while the ghostly Mutradi flew towards the hangar. The Titan trio tried to stop him, but he disappeared. Octus could see that he wasn't completely gone, though, and so, having fully been repaired at this point, blocked the entrance of the hangar with his gel. Arthur realized what Octus was trying to do and threw a grenade near the wall. The grenade bounced off the wall and exploded in a burst of energy that made Thanatos reappear again, apparently having been caught in the blast radius.. The group stood over him as the ghostly Mutradi fell to the floor, cautious in case Thanatos wasn't quite defeated yet.

"So you couldn't teleport after all," Lance remarked. Thanatos growled at him as Arthur approached. Glancing at the chubby hero, Thanatos hatched one last idea.

"Did you think I couldn't leave my mark on you at all?" he asked Lance before suddenly tackling Arthur. Thanatos seemed to melt into his body in seconds, and when it was over Arthur had a nasty grin on his face.

"Get out of Arthur, Thanatos! You can't defeat me using my friend!" Lance commanded. "I can knock you out of him. I know how."

"Who said anything about fighting?" Arthur asked under the control of Thanatos. He quickly withdrew his second grenade, and Lance's eyes widened.

He sprinted as fast as his legs would carry him. He wasn't sure why he was doing that, since it would just put him in danger, but in the frenzy and adrenaline that came over him Lance was determined to do whatever needed doing, if it meant that Arthur would be okay.

Thoughts surfaced in his head. _Knock the grenade off of him. Knock him out of the way. Let yourself get blown up instead. Do something._

But Lance knew from his military experience that there was nothing he could do. Mutradi grenades were notorious for exploding very quickly after being activated. So he watched as, in one moment, Arthur was smiling in his direction, just as if he was still the friend he had once known. And in the next moment, Lance was watching Arthur shoot upward to the roof of the hangar and explode in a burst of light and blood. The next thing he knew the three of them were above the surface of the moon.

. . . . .

But from Arthur's point of view, things were very different. When Thanatos entered his body, the ghost encountered a sort of resistance, a sort of willpower that he had never seen before in his victims. After a brief exchange, Thanatos got a surprise.

_It pains me to make you my property, Arthur. You seem like such a good kid. But I need you to destroy Lance._

_Shut up. _Arthur's words were surprisingly sharp. Normally minds were docile under Thanatos' control, unable to fight back.

_What? Do you realize who you're speaking to? I nearly killed your friend once, and now that I'm inside of you I can kill you both!_

_You heard me! First off, I'm not a "kid". I'm 3 years older than Lance, for crying out loud! And it's really arrogant to think that you've already won. You don't know ANYTHING about Lance! He's already been broken. It happened when his dad was killed! You can't break him anymore, Thanatos. He's PAST the breaking point, and now he's going to make you pay for trying to mess with him twice!_

_NO, it is __YOU __who is the arrogant one, Arthur! I'm in YOUR body! I could KILL YOU, don't you understand?! And when I do, Lance goes too! He'll be so upset and depressed that I'll finally be able to take over his mind! And then when I do that I can finally—_

_But that's just it. Lance isn't like that. He doesn't get "sad" when bad things happen to him. He locks it all up inside. And then he swallows it and moves on. I don't know if that's the best thing to do, but that's what he does. And do you know what he does next?_

…

_He makes himself stronger. He doesn't let things ruin his life forever. I don't quite know what goes on through his head, but somehow he doesn't, and apparently you never figured that out. And in the end he just makes himself more unbreakable than he was before. You haven't weakened Lance at all, Thanatos, you've put yourself in a world of hurt. Now watch what happens next!_

_What do you-? Hey, what are you doing?! Why can't I make you hold still? How are you hovering in the air?! Why can't I control myself?! How are YOU controlling ME?! That's not how it works!_

_You'll figure it out when something hits you._

. . . .

Lance snapped back to reality, finding himself trapped inside Octus for the second time today. He found himself looking into the tunnel where the space station hangar was. Or where it had been. The panel that had blocked out space and the airlock were destroyed, and the vacuum of space was sucking objects—and more importantly, the oxygen—out from the moon base. Lance turned on his spacewalk and then his armor.

"How did we get here?" he asked Ilana nervously. Ilana turned to look at him. She in her armor, but she felt that it would be better for her to turn it off when she spoke to him. This was, after all, a delicate subject matter.

"Arthur blew himself up," she said. "Thanatos possessed him. But…just before the grenade exploded, Arthur suddenly shot upward to the roof of the hangar. Thanatos couldn't fly around while he was inside _your _body."

"No," Lance said simply. "Come on, guys. We're forming Titan. We need to finish what Arthur started." The group did so and observed with metallic yellow eyes as the first Mutradi corpses began to drift out into space, having been sucked out by its vacuum.

"They will find a way to seal off the vacuum of space if we don't hurry," Octus reminded them. "I'm detecting 2 life forms in the hangar," he added, knowing that Lance would find this information useful. "It is unclear whether they are dead or alive, due to the unusual signature they are giving off."

"Initiating Alpha cannon," Lance ordered Titan. Said cannon emerged from Titan's chest and aimed itself down at the hangar.

"Lance, wait! What about Arthur?" Ilana begged. "I'm worried about you. Don't feel like you have to do this!"

"Arthur's already dead, Ilana. But the others aren't. I have to destroy this thing. Arthur's sacrifice wasn't in vain," Lance told her. And so Titan fired its Alpha cannon through the tunnel to the hangar, destroying it. Titan then moved forward so that the laser would cut through to the rest of the moon base, destroying all of it. Octus directed where Titan had to go, and Lance simply moved wherever Octus instructed. Ilana monitored the scanners and radar to check for signs of life or escaping ships.

After a few minutes, the job was done. Titan's wings for spaceflight emerged from its shoulders, and the giant robot flew home.

"Any signs of life back there, Ilana?" Lance asked.

"No. Just bodies and dust."

. . . .

When the trio returned home, the first thing Ilana did was turn on the TV. She could have sworn the last thing she watched was definitely not the local news, but that was the channel it was on.

"Just ten minutes ago, an explosion of some kind occurred on the far side of the moon, commonly known as the dark side of the moon. In a statement by a NASA spokesperson, they assert that it was not a natural phenomenon, but they can find no trace of what could have possibly provoked the explosion. An intriguing thing about this explosion is that it has allegedly altered that region of the moon in such a way that radio signals are able to be transmitted freely across from it, whereas previously they were blocked. How an explosion of any sort could have had this result is unclear, NASA claimed, but it claims that satellites and probes launched by it and governments of other countries are considering plans to organize missions there to investigate the dark side of the moon—which, as some commentators are putting it, can no longer be called dark anymore thanks to this incident."

Ilana followed Lance up to his room. He was about to close the door and shut her out when her hand stopped him.

"I won't bother you, I promise. I'm sorry we couldn't save Arthur," Ilana said. Her voice was soft, almost a whisper. Lance turned to face her, and for a moment Ilana thought he was going to yell at her. But instead he just stared into her eyes and gave her a hug.

"I wish we could have saved him, too. But I know he didn't die in vain. The space station is gone and can't be fixed without people knowing. Octus has the documents safe. And Thanatos is dead." Lance let go of Ilana then, and the two went into his room and sat down on the side of his bed.

"But don't you remember what Octus said? He couldn't tell whether they were dead or alive down there."

"Maybe Thanatos died with Arthur. I don't know how Arthur managed to do what he did, but I think he managed to turn Thanatos' own powers against him. Instead of letting Thanatos possess _him, he_ took control of Thanatos."

"I guess that's the only explanation, isn't it? But…are you going to be okay with that?" Ilana asked him nervously. Lance hung his head and stared at the floor, obviously contemplating the question.

"Yes. I have to be. For years I thought my dad was dead. I accepted it. I didn't want to, but I didn't have any other choice. I made myself stronger and fought back against people like Baron that had no sympathy for me. It's what my dad would have wanted. And right now, another person has died. Thanatos wanted this to happen. He thought I would be ruined. But what he doesn't know—if he's still alive—is that now I'm coming after him. Now this is personal. What he didn't realize was that by killing a friend that let me see a non-violent side of myself, he just got rid of the only thing that saved him from me. I used to live in fear, but if Thanatos comes back then he's the one that will be living in fear of me."

"I don't care about Thanatos. What about you? Are _you _going to be ok?" Ilana asked. Lance smiled and gave her another hug.

"Don't worry. I'll be all right. This is just how I handle grief. People do it in different ways. I try to do it in a way that makes me sure that I won't be broken by it."

Later that night, at around 2 AM, Lance called his father.

"Son…I'm so sorry this happened. You can always come to me about these sorts of things. I want you to know that I'm always there for you, even if it seems like I'm not."

"It's okay, Dad. I'm fine. I'm glad you called me. I want to tell you about Arthur. You never met him, didn't you? You would have liked him a lot. Let me tell you about him." Edward was surprised in the lack of sorrow or depression in his son's voice. Lance certainly didn't look like he was trying to hold back tears.

"If you think you can handle it, well, all right."

"Great! The first thing I want to point out is that Arthur was a hero in his own right. Not the way people would see Ilana, or maybe me or Octus or you. A different sort of hero…"


End file.
